Amid the challenging terrain of northwestern Honduras, where Daniel
Kelly's team faced rugged and steep forest areas cut across here and
there by a few trails, a gorgeous tree with cherry-like fruits was
discovered. Being about 10 meters (33 feet) high and covered with
cream-colored flowers, it was quickly sorted into the coffee family
(Rubiaceae), but it was its further description that took much
longer.

Eventually, it was named Sommera cusucoana, with its specific
name
stemming from its so far only known locality, the Cusuco National Park.
The study is available in the open-access journal PhytoKeys.

The researchers were working on a plant diversity study in the Cusuco
National Park, conducted by Kelly, Anke Dietzch and co-workers as a
part of a broader survey by Operation Wallacea, an international
organisation dealing with biodiversity and conservation management
research programs.

A couple of curious findings in the past decade provide a strong
incentive to further work. The place turns out to be not only of high
biodiversity but to also contain rare and hitherto unknown plant and
animal species.

For instance, the tree Hondurodendron (from Greek, 'Honduras
Tree') and
the herbaceous plant Calathea carolineae are another two
endemic
species discovered as a result of the Operation Wallacea survey.

In 2013, two individuals of another unknown, 10-meter high (33 foot)
tree with cream-colored flowers and red, cherry-like fruits were found
by Kelly and Ms. Dietzsch, who are from Trinity College, University of
Dublin, Ireland. The two were aided by local guide Wilmer Lopez.

The multinational collaboration did not stop then and there. Although
the scientists quickly figured that the tree belonged to the coffee
family, they needed some additional help to further identify their
discovery. Thus, they were joined by two leading specialists in this
plant group, first Charlotte Taylor from Missouri Botanical Garden and
then David Lorence from the National Tropical Botanical Garden in
Hawaii.

It was actually Lorence who was the first to recognize the unknown tree
as a member of the Sommera
genus, a group of nine known species of
trees and shrubs. Later, the team decided to name the new plant Sommera
cusucoana to celebrate its singular locality, the Cusuco
National Park.

"Sadly, there has been extensive logging in the vicinity in recent
years, and we fear for the future of our new species," the authors
stressed. "According to the criteria of the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature, it must be regarded as critically endangered."